Dear Neighbor,
The tomatoes are beginning to trickle in a little more than one at a time, but still not enough for a mass canning project. You know me and how I love salsa, so I decided to figure out how to can a single pint jar of salsa. I know you are thinking, why bother? Well, if you are finding tomatoes coming in 4 or so at a time and just aren’t using them fast enough, you need to do something with them!
- 2-4 tomatoes or 1 1/ 2 cups, chopped
- ½ onion, finely minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons dried cilantro
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (adjust as needed. Mine are hot so I use half.)
- 2 tables spoons of vinegar or 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to acidify for canning
- 2 big pinches of salt
- Dash of sugar to offset the acid you just added.
STEPS:
1. Fill your canning pot with water. Put your pint jar in there to sterize and warm.
2. Now you have to remove the tomato skins. Put a small pan of water to boil.
3. While you are waiting, use your personal blender to quickly chop up the onion and jalapeno.
4. Sauté the contents along with your garlic in a small amount of oil. When tender, add the remaining spices. My husband likes picante style salsa, so I put the contents back in the blender.
5. When water for tomato skinning is boiling, put your tomatoes in for a minute or so and then scoop out with a strainer spoon and plunge into iced water. The skins will look cracked or raised.
6. Peel skins.
7. Since we are not going to simmer this down, put your tomatoes in a colander and squeeze the tomatoes so you get all the tomato juice out. Otherwise you will have watery salsa. Just grab the tomatoes and give them a squeeze as if you are squeezing out a dish rag. If you have chickens, keep this juice and seeds because they love them!
8. Now put the tomatoes in the blender as well. Give it a pulse or two.
9. Add the vinegar (or the acid of choice.) Pulse again until desired texture
10. Pour into jar and put lid on and screw on tightly. Process submerged for 35 minutes. Add 5 minutes in high altitudes.
If you wish to skip canning and want fresh salsa, skip the vinegar and add lime juice, don’t peel tomatoes and just chop everything up and add the spices and enjoy!